LYNNE'S SOMEWHAT INVENTED LIFE.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

WHERE DO YOU GO TO HAVE SOME ALONE TIME?

Where do you go to hang out, to have some peace, some space, some alone time? Do you go onto the roof?

This youngster has the best view. He can bark at whatever he wants and knows he is safe. He even naps up here.

Where do you go? I go to the computer but the TV is on and I am--right now--listening to George, complaining about something. Seinfeld is saying, "What kind of sick person does something like that?" I don't know, Seinfeld, I just want some peace and quiet so I can write. Try to write. Okay, I want to think about writing.

The bathroom used to be a sanctuary. Every mother in the history of the world has locked herself in the bathroom. At my house, my middle child would waggle her fingers under the door and say, "Can you see my fingers, Momma?" If I ignored her she laid with her ear fused to the floor and said, "I can see your feet." If I lifted my feet off the floor she panicked and I had to put them back so she didn't think I was sucked up by the bathroom fan. Or maybe an extraterrestrial. Maybe that's why she hates Sci-Fi, my sweet happy middle child.

And yes, I could ALWAYS see her fingers. The question is, can she see her children's fingers and can they see her feet? And does it drive her crazy?

My, how life changes. I remember those days of wishing I could just have a little time alone. But even still, my favorite place is not on the roof but in my own bed, with covers pulled up, a good book, and some chocolate!

In the middle child's defense, she thought her mother would like some company during her lonely bathroom time. How was I ( I mean "she") suppose to know that her mother was on her last nerve and the child was annoying and the mom was probably trying to escape the middle child for just a moment, in the first place? How?

Now she knows better, and is sorry, but only a little, for the finger waggle.

I can so relate. The bathroom is not too much of a santuary with someone banging and demanding your presence on the other side. At least if they're under one they can come in and sit on your lap. Yes, that has happened at the Zan house. More than once.

I have this theory: if you misplace a child, there are two ways to find him (that is, if you WANT to find him). First is, as you have so delightfully described here, is to quietly go into the bathroom for some "alone time". If the child does not miraculously appear, pick up the telephone to make an important phone call. No matter where the child was, he will find you.